Are you with San Gerxon and several reptanoids?
Is that what they are?
Yes.
I wanted to ask about reptanoids but didn't—I had no desire to get a mental slap on the head.
Reah, do you have any idea where you are now?
No. It looks like a jungle outside—lots of tropical trees and plants, and it's really humid. I only saw that this morning, while I was walking to the main house. Single level—looks like a plantation home. Huge.
Reah, we've been after those reptanoids for a while. If you can get any information on where you are, send it right away.
All right.
"Reah, what we have for breakfast today?" Farzi had come into the kitchen.
"What would you like, Master Farzi?"
"Whatever you make we welcome." I wondered why Lendill had been after these for so long. Was there an entire planet of these beings or were there only a few? What had they done that the ASD wanted them? "I dismiss cooking staff before we leave for Campiaa; they not good anyway." His clipped common speech made me think that he had another language, although his words in the common tongue were precise.
Xiri gave me a look as Farzi settled himself onto a chair at the island and we cooked breakfast for him. Others wandered in, including more reptanoids, wizards and finally, Arvil. Jazal and his crew were still in bed.
"You have carpenter with you?" Farzi turned to Arvil.
"He can do anything as far as building goes," Arvil replied.
"Perhaps he help me—we find a way to kill wood-chewing ants here. But much wood on south side of house needs replacing," Farzi said. "Ours here now not know much in way of building."
That told me that the reptanoids hadn't put up the house or anything around it. Had they bought this place or gotten it some other way?
"Reah, find Teeg and bring him in—we'll see if he can help Farzi out." Wiping my hands on a towel, I nodded at Xiri to keep up his inventory and went off toward our bungalow.
"Teeg, we can feed you at the house—I think they need help repairing termite damage and none of them know what to do," I said. Teeg was up, dressed and going through the tiny kitchenette we had, looking for something to eat. We didn't have anything there—I saw that right away.
Teeg got his breakfast in the main kitchen later as he listened to Farzi describe his insect troubles.
"Not a surprise, they like moist, warm places," Teeg agreed. I took his empty plate and he followed Farzi toward the south end of the house.
"I am come to help with missing food." A reptanoid came silently through the wide door. Xiri stared at our new arrival, so I had to piece out what he meant.
"You mean you'll help us get what we need?"
"Yes—what is missing." He gestured toward the cabinets.
"Very good—where can we find missing food?" I was getting on board with this. He grinned at me, which transformed his face. I couldn't help but smile back at him. He and the others all had brown hair and golden-brown, slitted eyes. In the dim interior of the plantation's kitchen, his eyes rounded until they appeared almost humanoid. So far, too, I hadn't seen anything violent from any of the eight reptanoids and wondered again why the ASD hunted them.
"I drive," he was still smiling at me. He drove. The vehicle was an ancient hovercar, but it ran. I got the idea he was the one who kept the vehicle in good repair. Xiri and I learned he was called Nenzi. Nenzi took us to a thriving market about a click away. Solar power was in use, so meats and other items in need of refrigeration were kept cold or frozen.
"Buy missing food." Nenzi held up a necklace chip.
"How much?" I asked, unsure how much he wanted to spend.
"Whatever," Nenzi flung out an arm. Plants, dust and children seemed to be everywhere as we made our way through the market. The children were all wearing the least amount of clothing one might get away with. The native population was darker-skinned than the reptanoids—I saw that right away. The children were running and shouting as they played, using a language I didn't know.
Xiri and I made our choices, Nenzi right behind us. He paid for everything—we had to get quite a bit to feed the crowd at the plantation. Nenzi didn't seem to mind. I was thankful the plantation had several large keepers—we were going to need them. Tropical fruit was everywhere and freshly picked. I had a sauce recipe that required some of the fruit we found. That went into our purchases.
The hovercar was packed full for our return trip, so I paid more attention to the fields we passed on the way home. I was looking for drakus seed but didn't see any from the road. That didn't mean it wasn't there, though.
They have grapefruit, orange, nanna, mango, pineapple, avocado and round melons, I sent to Lendill. All growing locally. They also had meat from a sheep they called palaca, I added. I found green nuts too.
Reah, I know that's important to you, but I'm not sure what good it will do us, Lendill replied. I'd have gotten out my comp-vid and gone looking to see where all those things were grown in one place. But then I wasn't Vice-Director of the ASD, either.
Then give it to Chash as a research assignment, I grumped and ended our communication.
"It would have worked perfectly, if somebody hadn't gotten wind of us," Norian wanted to shout or put his fist through a wall; he couldn't decide which. "When we caught that fool wizard Haral on Reliff, Aryn's compulsion worked flawlessly. Haral spilled the information that the reptanoids were in this up to their foreheads. We would have had all of them; we were an arm's length away from having them," Norian wanted to go to lion snake so badly it was almost painful. He wanted to bite something—kill something. Realizing it was very close to the full moon on Le-Ath Veronis, he did his best to calm down.
"If we'd known this wasn't going to work, we could have turned the wizard over to King Wylend. He has a death warrant out on that one, and probably most of San Gerxon's other wizards too." Lendill was nearly as frustrated as Norian was. They should have had Reah back by now. Both he and Norian had thought it would only be a matter of days. Now, they had no guess at a timeline—they didn't even know where Reah and the others were. Lendill didn't want to hand the information to Tory and Aurelius. Gavril, too, young as he was, wanted information and was begging his mother to ask Norian about Reah every day.
"Reah, do they expect you to do this every day? Work from dawn until they go to bed at night? What are those house servants for?" Teeg was hauling me inside the door. We'd been at the plantation for a week and there hadn't been anyone there to offer us a day off or give us a break. I fell in bed every night, asleep before my head hit the pillow most of the time. When the alarm went off, I dragged myself to the shower, cleaned up and went off to the house.